The first movie, Oh, God! (1977) was directed by Carl Reiner, based on a novel by Avery Corman. John Denver plays Jerry Landers, an assistant manager at a supermarket who is chosen by God to spread His message. Though reluctant at first, Jerry eventually believes in his cause, and his efforts strains his marriage, endangers his job, and puts him in the path of a popular televangelist. It briefly ended the reign of Star Wars at the top of the box office charts in October 1977, and was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

The sequel, Oh, God! Book II (1980), essentially recycled the plot of the first, but with eleven-year-old Tracy Richards (Louanne Sirota) as His messenger. Tracy is inspired to start a "Think God" campaign at her school, but her divorced parents think she's crazy and plot to halt her mission.

Recognizing that the appeal of the series was George Burns himself, the third movie Oh, God! You Devil (1984) has him play both God and Satan. In a straightforward Deal with the Devil plot, a struggling musician named Bobby Shelton (Ted Wass) sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for fame and fortune. Trapped by Satan, he seeks help from God (who has been watching over him), and the two nemeses face off for God's list of protected souls.

Artistic License – Traditional Christianity: It was kind of inevitable that the movie's interpretation of God would deviate a bit from the typical theological view. One of the most blatant instances is the page quote; it appears that God has a really lousy memory, because he did a lot of miracles after the Red Sea thing.

Even if we're going purely Old Testament, he still did a lot of miracles, some of the highlights being several resurrections, blinding an entire army, making the king of the most powerful empire in the world go insane, and raining fire down on two separate armies who threatened one of his prophets.

Disaster Dominoes: In Oh God! You Devil, when Harry Tophet first introduces himself to Bobby during the wedding reception, Tophet's "I can make things happen" sales pitch is seemingly no different from that of any other agent. Tophet proves otherwise when he uses a bit of his demonic mojo to turn a woman's escargot back into live snails. The woman's panicked rush to get away from her plate causes a series of mishaps—including one of the tents being brought down—ending with the newlyweds themselves taking an unwilling dip in the swimming pool.

Everything's Better with Rainbows: In Oh God! You Devil!, God makes a rainbow appear in the night sky above Las Vegas to confirm that he has heard Bobby Shelton's prayer.

Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Devil believes there's no way God would put untold thousands of souls on the line just to save one man. He is proven wrong during the poker showdown in Oh God! You Devil.

Evil Is Petty: The Devil delights himself by bringing the gypsy moth back to New England.

A Form You Are Comfortable With: God specifically tells His prophets that he could have appeared in any other form, but chose one that they could understand.

"If it's hard to have faith in me, maybe it will help to know that I have faith in you."

The Gods Must Be Lazy: Invoked repeatedly by God; whenever He is asked why He doesn't solve the world's problems with his omnipotence, He simply handwaves it as something people must do for themselves.

God Test: To prove His divinity, Jerry asks God to make it rain. He does so... inside Jerry's moving car.

The Magic Poker Equation: Averted in the ending of Oh, God! You Devil. God beats the Devil in a hand of poker when the Devil decides to fold. And what was God's downright amazing hand? Complete garbage.

God: "Absolutely, I can tell the future — the minute it becomes the past."

Rhetorical Request Blunder: In Oh God! You Devil, Bobby Shelton, at the end of his rope following yet another boring, low-paying, dead-end gig, says aloud to himself, "I'd sell my soul to the Devil to make it in this business. Just for the chance." Unfortunately for him, those words didn't go unnoticed.

Stop Trick: Done in the final courtroom scene of the first movie, when God repeatedly makes a deck of cards appear and disappear.

Stop Worshipping Me: Happens briefly in the first film. After Jerry appears on the Dinah Shore Show and talks about his visits with God, his home is mobbed by groupies and visitors who want his time, his blessing, and his divine seed.

"I went to take out the garbage today and two people blessed me! And one of them blessed the garbage!"

The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Just after the Disaster Dominoes event at the wedding reception (see above), Bobby is startled to notice that Tophet has suddenly disappeared, leaving only his still-lit cigar behind. He's also shocked to hear Tophet's disembodied voice wrap up his sales pitch, telling Bobby to keep in touch. After the voice falls silent, Bobby talks aloud to himself.

Bobby Shelton: I'm flipping out!

*looks at the reverse side of Harry Tophet's business card, which was previously blank*

What Happened to the Mouse?: In Oh God!, Jerry is given a series of tests for God to perform. God notes they are in Aramaic and the tests play no further part in the movie. In the original book, God revealed his presence by solving all the tests, not personally appearing.

Your Radio Hates You: At one point, Jerry turns on the radio only to hear nothing but songs that involve the word "rain."

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